Treville's Musketeers
by jayel7
Summary: Treville reflects upon the nature of his four special musketeers. Disclaimer: No copyright infringement intended.


Treville's Musketeers

Aramis raised his voice. "D'Artagnan! You're with me. You, too, Edouard and Valentin! Over here. We're going to work on improving your marksmanship."

Captain Treville stood with his hands resting on the rails of the balcony outside his office. He gazed up at the blue sky with satisfaction and squinted from the bright sunlight. After two weeks of daily rain, hampering his musketeers from practicing their skills, the sky had finally cleared and the mud in the garrison courtyard had dried to a solid consistency.

Below Treville, some of his musketeers were starting the first day of a strenuous, week long practice session led by Athos, Aramis and Porthos. They had been instructed to tutor the less experienced musketeers in order to improve their abilities to the level desired by their commander.

_I hope that D'Artagnan reacts well to the orders I've given to his friends. For D'Artagnan's own good, I want them to be hard on him, harder than they are on the others. As fond as they obviously are of him, it will be harmful if the perception persists that he's receiving more favorable treatment than the others. That would give rise to resentment and jealousy and cause dissension in the ranks. We are a brotherhood and nothing must threaten that._

_Aramis doesn't look pleased with their target shooting. I can hear him well enough to tell that he's being patient in explaining to Valentin about the effects of wind on his accuracy. He's showing equal patience with Edouard in demonstrating how to move his weapon slightly to the left. It appears from here that D'Artagnan hit his target_ _squarely in the center once. The other shots missed, although they were reasonably close. Aramis is berating D'Artagnan for his lack of accuracy and his failure to practice more often. D'Artagnan looks surprised and a bit bewildered by Aramis's unexpectedly harsh words. Edouard's and Valentin's expressions are mirroring D'Artagnan's surprise. Now D'Artagnan has that forlorn look on his face that makes people want to hug him and make him smile again. Don't give in to him, Aramis! Good. Aramis isn't letting up on him. D'Artagnan is looking down, clearly embarrassed by the scolding. Now he's looking up at Aramis, though, with an expression on his face that shows he's determined to do better. _

_I would hate to be without Aramis. He is the kind of soldier you want watching your back. If only he didn't involve himself with so many women. I do believe that he may have even made eyes at the queen, so prone is he to flirting. Despite his reputation, he did tell me that he had never deliberately seduced a woman and that women had always come to him willingly. I suppose that I should believe him. I've never known him to lie to me. It is a fact that women are charmed by his looks and his manner. He is a good man at heart, if he isn't always prudent in his behavior. No matter how much his parents may have desired him to enter the priesthood, I'm grateful that he chose to become a soldier instead. He's a damned good one. _

After a mid-day break to eat, practice resumed and Treville resumed his watch from the balcony.

_Now Athos gets D'Artagnan for some sword practice. He's eager to learn and shows such promise, but Athos is a stern taskmaster. I know that he'll be mindful of my orders and will be tough on D'Artagnan. Given how talented he is with a sword, it would be easy for D'Artagnan to get cocky, Athos will take him down a peg or two, if necessary._

_What an advantage it is to be able to rely on a man as steady as Athos. He is a natural leader of men. He seems changed since discovering that his slithering viper of a wife is alive and well, after all, and that he wasn't responsible for her death. I don't think that he is drinking as much, either. He's inclined to be a serious man, but smiles and laughs more than he did before. How he could have married such a woman, despite all her lies, I don't understand. Doubtless, he was besotted with her and she is a beautiful woman, but he should have investigated her background. A pity that Athos's parents apparently weren't alive when he became involved with her. Before allowing her to become a member of such a distinguished family, they would have made it their business to have found out what kind of a woman she really was. Once the truth was known, I've no doubt whatsoever that she would have been sent packing. A woman like her with a criminal background wouldn't even have passed muster as Athos's mistress, let alone as wife to the Comte de la Fere._

_D'Artagnan has been good for Athos. He's given him someone to focus on instead of his wretched choice of a wife or his deceased brother. Athos has never been overly demonstrative, but I know that he feels a strong attachment to D'Artagnan. Not that Athos is alone in this. I have to admit that it's impossible not to be fond of D'Artagnan, no matter how exasperating he can be at times. It's no surprise that Athos, Aramis and Porthos quickly chose to act as his big brothers and mentor him. He is so anxious to please them and they've become family to him. From what he has said, his father doted on him and he has to miss that deeply. It's obvious that he adores Athos and looks up to him, no matter that Athos can be quite severe with him at times. I've no doubt that D'Artagnan realizes that Athos would willingly risk his life for him. _

_As usual, Athos is being very demanding with his protégé. He isn't sparing him a strong reprimand each time he makes a bad move. D'Artagnan is listening respectfully, even if his face shows how unhappy he is with his mentor's criticisms. It speaks well for him that he doesn't sulk or get defensive, as some new musketeers do when their flaws are pointed out. Athos isn't going easy on him at all and he's making D'Artagnan practice longer and harder than the others he's worked with today. Because proficiency with the sword is so important, I'm going to let him continue practicing with Athos until he's ready to drop. He'll have a chance to rest before Porthos gives him more lessons in hand-to-hand fighting. _

Treville went back into his office to finish the paperwork on his desk. When he came back out to continue his review of the practice sessions, Porthos was winding up the lesson with his current trainee. Porthos picked up the thick, well muscled musketeer and chucked him over into a mound of straw.

_Porthos tossed that man almost as easily as he might toss a sack of feathers, and the man is no lightweight. Neither are two others awaiting their turn. Only D'Artagnan is thin enough to look as if Porthos could break him in half. I can only trust that Porthos won't forget my warning that I want no broken bones or concussions as a result of his lessons. Porthos is a good teacher when it comes to fighting and he's a master of how to fight dirty – a useful talent when necessity demands it. I doubt that D'Artagnan was ever taught how to fight dirty, but then he didn't grow up on the streets like Porthos. I wonder if Porthos ever knew who his father was. It's not the kind of thing I can ask the man and he's never volunteered the information. I know there are many who think he shouldn't even be a musketeer. I've heard the remarks. He's not from a noble family like the rest of my musketeers, he's not well educated and he's of mixed race. I always felt, though, that he would be a valuable addition and he has been. I remember how hard a time he had in the beginning being accepted by the other men. If it hadn't been for Aramis and Athos befriending him, I don't know if he would've stuck it out, but I'm happy that he did. _

_Oh! There goes another victim being thrown into the straw. Porthos looks like a man playing with children. I can see that there's a lot of work to be done in improving the fighting skills of some of my men. One more sacrificial lamb coming up and then it's D'Artagnan's turn. D'Artagnan looks apprehensive, as well he might. He's going to end up with sore, aching muscles in places where he didn't even know that he had muscles. It doesn't matter much about the soreness. He'll get over it, but I don't want him getting seriously hurt. I probably should have given Porthos more warning about being careful. Too late now. D'Artagnan is up next, and Porthos just took the last one by the scruff of his neck and the seat of his breeches and landed him in the straw. Porthos isn't even breathing heavily. I almost hate to watch him get hold of D'Artagnan._

_So far, so good, but he's only demonstrating holds to D'Artagnan and how to break the holds. Interesting moves, and so are the different types of kicks he's showing him. Now it's getting rougher and D'Artagnan took quite a tumble, but he's getting right back up. The way that Porthos is twisting D'Artagnan's arm behind his back has to be very painful. D'Artagnan is trying, but I don't think he's going to be able to get out of the hold. I have to give him credit. He's continuing to give it all he's got, no matter the odds against him. He is twisting out of it, somehow! Porthos is wearing him down, though, and he's no match in weight or strength, but he's not giving up. Alexandre D'Artagnan would be proud of his son if he could see him now. He raised his boy not to be a quitter. It looks like Porthos and D'Artagnan have moved too far away from the pile of straw without realizing it. I don't want D'Artagnan taking a hard fall and breaking a bone. I had better go down and warn them._

D'Artagnan was flipped up in the air over Porthos's shoulder and landed, not on the straw, but with a loud thud on the hard ground. Athos had been watching the two combatants out of the corner of his eye, as had been Aramis. They immediately stopped what they were doing when they saw that D'Artagnan wasn't moving. They hurried over and were quickly joined by Treville. D'Artagnan rolled over and sat up, clutching his middle. Aramis bent over him and placed a comforting hand on D'Artagnan's head, while Porthos hovered nearby, looking guilty. "Sorry, D'Artagnan," he muttered. "I guess I got carried away for a minute."

"Are you hurt, son," Treville asked.

D'Artagnan couldn't answer for a minute until his breath returned. "No, sir. I had the breath knocked out of me. That's all."

With a relieved grin, Porthos gave him a hand up, followed by a pat on the behind. "You may look like a good wind could blow you away, but you're tougher than you look."

"We've been quite hard on you today," Athos said.

D'Artagnan looked perplexed. "I wondered what I had done wrong. Even Aramis yelled at me and he never does that."

"We'll take you out to get something to eat this evening and explain it to you, and then maybe you won't hold it against us how we treated you," Aramis said.

"I don't know if I feel like going anywhere."

"A long soak in some hot water should revive you considerably and ease your aching muscles," Treville said. "At any rate, you had better hope that it does. Everyday for the rest of this week, you're going to be going through the same rigorous training, and there will be no easing up on you."

D'Artagnan groaned and made a face. Aramis flung an arm around him. "You're going to make it just fine, D'Artagnan. Would we do anything bad to our little brother?"

"You already have," D'Artagnan grumbled, as the four of them strolled off across the courtyard, "And I wish you wouldn't call me 'Little brother.'"

Porthos cuffed him on the back of the head. "You are our little brother. Get used to it."

Treville watched them go, a slight smile on his face.

_In one way or another, they cause me more headaches than the rest of my musketeers put together, but how dull things would be without them._

End


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